Soy Killi
Munda
At a glance
- Called a
- Killi
- Community
- Munda
- Found in
- Jharkhand
About
Soy, written Soe or Soi by Roy, is a killi (totemic clan) of the Munda of Chota Nagpur. Its totem is the soe, a large fish, which no Munda of any branch of the killi will eat. Roy (1912) counts Soi among the twenty-one original Munda killis and gives a story of how it divided into a dozen named branches. A killi is not a gotra and names no rishi.
What “Killi” means for the Munda
A killi is a Munda clan. Roy (1912) records that its members count themselves descendants of one forefather, that it passes from father to children, and that no Munda may marry within his own killi. Many killis are named after an animal, plant or thing, their totem, which members will not eat or harm. A killi is not a gotra and names no rishi.
Every killi of the Munda, with how the clan system works: the Munda page.
Name and Origin
The killi is named after the soe fish. Roy (1912, pp. 232-233) gives the story of its branches. A Munda had grown cotton in a field by a river called the Chilua Ikir. A large soe fish dug a passage underground from the river to the field and came every night to eat the cotton. When the owner found the thief he shot it with an arrow, but the fish was so big that he had to call all his kinsmen to carry it to the village, where it was cut up and shared. Each man's part gave his line its name: the man who shot it became Tuing-Soe (tuing, to shoot an arrow), the one who chopped the bones Jang-Soe (jang, bone), the one who divided the meat Til-Soe, the one who handed out the shares Or-Soe, and the one who brought the leaf-plates Patra-Soe. A kinsman who carried his share home in a cloth dyed with ochre earth became Gamcha-Soe.
Historical Journey
Roy lists Soi among the twenty-one killis that, by Munda tradition, came onto the Ranchi plateau with the patriarch Risa Munda (1912, p. 72 n.), and the Soe story is one of the few killi histories he set down in full (pp. 232-233). Besides the six branches named in the story he names the Mandi-Soe, Chiki-Soe, Tula Soe, Adoa Soe, Rura Mandi Soe and Banda Soe, 'each of which is somehow or other connected with the legend'. He gives the Soe as evidence for his view that the number of Munda killis grew greatly by division after the Mundas came to Chota Nagpur, so that one forefather's line became many killis (p. 231).
How the Killi Is Kept
Roy records that no Munda of any branch of the Soe killi will eat the soe fish, and that men of the Gamcha-Soe branch will not wear cloth dyed with gamcha, the ochre earth (1912, p. 233). A Munda may not marry within his own killi (p. 228); Roy does not say whether the Soe branches may marry each other. The killi passes from father to children. No family deity is tied to the killi in the sources checked.
Presence Across Regions
Ranchi district, Jharkhand
Tribal - Munda
Roy (1912) recorded the Soe story and its branches among the Mundas of Ranchi district; the Chilua Ikir river of the story is not located.
Stories and Legends
The fish in the cotton field
As Roy recorded it, a great soe fish tunnelled from the Chilua Ikir river into a Munda's cotton field and ate the cotton night after night. The owner kept watch, shot it with an arrow, and called his kinsmen to carry it home. Shooting, chopping, dividing, sharing out and fetching leaf-plates each gave a branch of the Soe killi its name, and none of them eats the soe fish.